Lesh Filling
The Grateful Dead started here and alot of people enjoyed their music, but does that make it a Sunday front page story when a member of the band writes a book and decides to flog it locally? Somehow a reporter's hobby will always merit special treatment. When do you think the next time you'll ever see the Daily send a reporter up to Marin to snag a book review?
Even so, the Phil Lesh interview does demonstrate a studied ability to disconnect cause from effect. Lesh offers up his brand of anti-materialism. But, once you've got yours it's easy to tell the next guy how bogus the whole money thing is. So will he advise his Kepler's audience that they can get the book for $17.13 or less at Amazon?
Next, Lesh discusses the band's drug use soley in benificial terms. Small wonder, the band was originally sponsored by LSD entrepeneur Owsley Stanley. Sure they used drugs and in the process had alot of psychotic visions that made them wealthy. When the topic shifts to Jerry Garcia's own drug use leading to his death, the Daily reporter allows Lesh to bat it aside by merely calling it a waste. Forget any questions relating to the drug abuse by the band's followers let alone the death of band mate Brent Mydland. Parents looking to get their kids interested in reading papers have got to love that.
It's hard to tell if this is a book review, an audition for Entertainment Tonight or merely a love-in.
Even so, the Phil Lesh interview does demonstrate a studied ability to disconnect cause from effect. Lesh offers up his brand of anti-materialism. But, once you've got yours it's easy to tell the next guy how bogus the whole money thing is. So will he advise his Kepler's audience that they can get the book for $17.13 or less at Amazon?
Next, Lesh discusses the band's drug use soley in benificial terms. Small wonder, the band was originally sponsored by LSD entrepeneur Owsley Stanley. Sure they used drugs and in the process had alot of psychotic visions that made them wealthy. When the topic shifts to Jerry Garcia's own drug use leading to his death, the Daily reporter allows Lesh to bat it aside by merely calling it a waste. Forget any questions relating to the drug abuse by the band's followers let alone the death of band mate Brent Mydland. Parents looking to get their kids interested in reading papers have got to love that.
It's hard to tell if this is a book review, an audition for Entertainment Tonight or merely a love-in.
posted by Robert Holmgren at 4/17/2005
4 Comments:
Right on Bob! Article made me want to have a Southern Comfort in memory of Janis Joplin...
Jerry was a diabetic and died of a heart attack. He was not on any non-prescriction drugs at the time of his death, nor had he been for over 30 days. Please stop spreading the rumor that drugs killed him. He was completely sober when he died. Being overweight and an unhealthy diet proved to be his demise. I met him in Palo Alto in '66 and knew him until he passed away in '95. His drug issues were primarily legal and not health related. It's no wonder that Phil didn't respond to it. It was an uneducated question on the part of the reporter.
Brent, who I met before he was a band member, was always a reckless runaway freight train when it came to drugs, as was Keith. But let's face it, the biggest partier of all was Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan, and booze killed him, he wasn't into other drugs. Drug abuse killed those three band members, which is the real shame. It did not kill Jerry. Being an out of shape, over-weight 60 year old man did.
Wake up call anyone???
For me, a "dead head" is someone returning with an empty truck. To think that years of drug and alcohol abuse in the early stages of Jerry Garcia's life is somehow unrelated to his health failings and early demise, is consistent with an empty truck load....From my view, the Grateful Dead was a marginal band with an irrational following. Few movements have done more to hurt our youth over the last four decades than the Grateful Dead. The fact that we even write books about these people and worship this movement makes me sad. I am "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad"
Note I used the word 'leading' instead of 'causing'. Garcia died of a heart attack for which diet can contribute (lead). As can a number of other factors- smoking, lack of excercise, genetic make-up and drug abuse. Settling on junk food as the cause serves your purpose, but then Jerry and I both would have enjoyed a Ding Dong from time to time. For me, it seems generous in the extreme to allow drug use to be let off so easily--unless you've been 'drivin' that train'.
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